


The Best Birthday Ever

by pandabob



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Family, Family Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 22:05:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14341896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandabob/pseuds/pandabob
Summary: Birthday fluff :-D





	The Best Birthday Ever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheMuchTooMerryMaiden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMuchTooMerryMaiden/gifts).



Kent lifted his arms up above his head and stretched like Kit used too, feeling his body pull itself into line without even a twinge, and then he rolled over reaching for Jeff only to find the bed cold and empty next to him. 

Checking the clock Kent found that it was almost nine o’clock, which would have been late a year ago when Hockey was still the thing that filled his life but retirement had to have some perks and a birthday lie-in was one he was happy to accept although he had dared to hope that he might get to share at least a little of it with Jeff.

Rolling back the other way he pushed himself up on his elbow, craning his neck to try and look through the crack in the doorway, listening hard for any noise and, when he heard soft chattering and seemingly uncontrolled giggles, he swung his legs out of bed and stood up to go in search of his family.

“Daddy Daddy Daddy,” Sammy ran towards him as he reached the bottom of the stairs, waving her arms and reaching to be picked up, “I made you breakfast, Papa helped.”

“Really,” Kent grinned at her as he picked her up and sat her on his right hip, settling her there and smiling at the fact that he could do that without wincing now. “Did he make lots of mess?”

Sammy laughed, as did Kent, as a shout of “don’t go blaming me for this mess little miss” came from the kitchen.

“You want to take me to see?” 

Sammy nodded and jumped down from his arms, grasping his hand and pulling him towards the kitchen, “Come on, Johnny’s been practicing singing and Papa dressed Jack up like a candle.”

“He what?” Kent laughed as they turned the corner into the kitchen and he stuttered to a halt when Jeff, covered in flour, with fruit sauce on his face, and the kitchen island covered in pancakes, chocolate sauce, fresh fruit, ice cream and sprinkles came into view. 

“He really did.” He breathed out in a whisper as Sammy let go of his hand and ran to retake her seat on a stool at the island, between two high chairs, and he took a minute just to look before he pulled his phone from his pocket and snapped a quick picture.

“You know I love you all more than the Stanley cup right?” Four pairs of eyes turned and grinned at Kent for his use of an old phrase he and Jeff had shared for years before they’d even considered that they might have a chance to share it with others, and for a second he wonder if he might one day have as many children as he did cups, before Jeff pulled him from his thoughts with a floury kiss to his cheek and a smile.

“Happy birthday beautiful,”

“Thank you,” he turned his head to kiss Jeff properly.

“Yuck!”  
“eweeee”  
“da da pa”

Kent and Jeff pulled away from the kiss laughing and Jeff shook his head and rolled his eyes “We got fewer complaints in the locker room than we do from this lot!”

“It’s true,” Kent smiled, “they fine us less though.”

“Kiss Kiss Kiss,” Sammy shouted from her seat and Kent and Jeff made their way around the kitchen island, paying their fines to their children in kisses to their cheeks and a ruffle of their hair, something that Sammy always scowled at but still never moved away from, and then Kent sat down in his seat and looked at everyone with a grin.

“So, what we having for breakfast?”

 

“Api irth ay ooo ooo, api irth ay ooo ooo, api irth ay ooo dada, api irth ay ooo ooo.” Johnny sang, without interruption from anyone, as Jeff set a plate of four pancakes with chocolate sauce and fresh fruit, and a single lit candle sticking out of the top, down in front of Kent and Kent couldn’t stop the tears that ran down his cheeks.

At just over three Johnny should have been out of his high chair at the island by now and he should have been able to speak much more clearly than he could but should was a word Jeff and Kent had removed from their parenting vocabulary very early on and instead they just helped, encouraged, supported and loved their little gang and marvelled at every new step they took and every new achievement.

“My beautiful, clever boy.” Kent lent across the table and kissed Johnny’s cheek, “Did your big sister teach you that?” Johnny nodded and grinned widely and Sammy blushed in her seat as Kent turned his attention to her, “Aren’t you the very best big sister any boy could ask for?” He kissed her cheek as well “I’m so lucky to have such lovely children, what did I ever do to deserve you?”

“I think,” Jeff spoke as he turned to put a cup of coffee down in front of Kent, eyes brimming with emotion, and smiled at him, “what you did was say ‘please let me take them home’ and then fought your way through every obstacle possible to get people to let us.”

“Yeah,” Sammy piped up with a smile, “You picked us because we’re awesome.”

Kent laughed at that and then directed the children to eating their breakfast, Jack eating his baby mush and being sneakily fork fed pancakes from Kent’s plate while Jeff pretended not to see, much to the squealed delight of Sammy and Johnny.

 

 

“I booked the ice for us.” 

“You what?” Kent looked up from where he was helping Johnny into his coat for his surprise birthday trip out and grinned at Jeff.

“For like a kids party thing, for your birthday.” Jeff sounded unsure if he’d done the right thing and continued speaking more quietly, “I invited the whole team, and their kids, the new boys asked if I really meant them too but I said I did, I hope that’s ok, I thought.”

Kent was staring at him wide eyes, “You really did this? For me?”

“Well,” Jeff rubbed the back of his neck nervously and didn’t quite look at Kent, focusing on fastening Jack into his infant car seat instead, “I thought you might like to just, like, play on the ice with the kids.”

Leaving Johnny safely sat on the floor Kent stepped up behind Jeff and wrapped his arms around him from behind, pulling him close and kissing his back between his shoulder blades, making him squirm and laugh. “Can I call you Swoops while we skate?”

Jeff turned in his arms and grinned, leaning down to kiss the end of his nose “You can call me anything you like as long as you have fun Parser.”

Kent grinned widely and kissed Jeff back before he bundle Sammy and Johnny out to the car leaving Jeff to finish sorting out Jack.

 

 

Arriving at the rink for the first time in over a year, Kent was pleasantly surprised by how many of the cars in the lot he recognised and he reached out his hand to squeeze Jeff’s knee as he slipped the car into park, “Thanks for this Swoops.”

“no problem Parser,” he shot back with a laugh and then they both clambered from the car and set about getting three kids and two large duffle bags of gear from the car to the rink, a job that became a whole lot easier when Jamus, a young goaltender who the Aces had drafted the summer Jeff retired and who’d played Kent’s final Stanley cup with him, arrived at the side of the car, slapped Kent hard on the back and reached to pick up both bags.

“The big four zero Parser, you can’t be carrying heavy things now you’re old.”

“Daddy’s not old,” came Sammy’s incredulous voice from the back seat of the car and Jamus blushed with embarrassment, like he’d just been told off by someone who mattered, and Kent couldn’t help laughing at him as Jeff patted him on the shoulder solemnly,

“You’re in trouble now Jamus, she’s a hard woman when you insult her Daddy to know.”

“I erm…” Jamus stood quietly next to Kent until Sammy was out of the car and then he crouched down next to her and offered his hand and both Kent and Jeff had to cover their mouths to stifle their laughter as she scowled at him and crossed her arms across her chest.

“I’m sorry for calling your daddy old,” he said with sincerity and Sammy’s stance softened slightly, “but he always called me a baby when we played together and I didn’t have a lovely little lady to tell him off for that.”

“Daddy called you a baby?” Sammy leaned her head towards Jamus, moving closer and resting her hand on his shoulder much to Jeff and Kent’s amusement.

“yup.” Jamus nodded “all the time, he said I needed looking after like a baby.”

“Wow” Sammy’s eyes went wide and she looked from Jamus to Kent and back again before she wrapped her arms around Jamus’ neck and gave him a hug that almost sent him off balance in his crouch. “Daddy must really like you; he only looks after special babies.”

There was silence for a long moment, the three adults processing the words of a rather wonderful little girl and then she let go of Jamus and turned to Kent with a wink before looking back at Jamus “Forty is quite a lot though, maybe you’re right about the bags.”

 

Sammy had her own pair of mint green skates, she hadn’t used them yet but Jeff had bought them ready for today, and as soon as she had them on she took to the ice like she’d been born to be there, much to the proud observance of her parents, and she skated off towards the large group of people in the middle of the ice with Kent while Jeff passed Jack off to Davids, who smiled at him and chatted away to him while Jeff buckled Johnny into his double bladed skates and led him carefully through the gate onto the edge of the ice.

As Kent approached the children with Sammy a loud chorus of happy birthday went up which was quickly followed by everyone asking what games Kent had planned for them and all the other adults edging away and Kent looked back over his shoulder to where Jeff was helping Johnny through his first tentative movements and then smiled down at Sammy, 

“Your Papa is an awesomely devious man you know?”

Sammy smiled not really understanding quite how much Kent loved playing with kids on the ice and how much he’d missed it since he’d retired and they’d both agreed that they needed to focus on their own children if they were going to really be what Sammy and Johnny needed them to be but she clearly understood how happy Kent was to be there because she squeezed his hand as she said “he loves us lots.”

Kent played with the kids for an hour, setting up races, handing out sticks and pucks and teaching the little ones to skate with a puck while helping the older ones shoot at the net Jamus was happy to tend for the game, and then he approached his second favourite defence man, whose three children were busy attacking Jamus’ net while Sammy and three other children of far greater height and age tried to defend it, and asked him to take over while.

“I just want to,” Kent nodded his head backwards over to where Johnny was now skating without holding Jeff’s hands at all, “If you could just keep an eye on this lot?”

“No bother Parser,” Jones smiled at him and clapped him on the shoulder, “Your boy’s doing great over there, do you reckon he could shoot a puck yet?”

Kent shook his head, “I don’t think he could keep up with this lot, he’s doing well where he is.”

“Parser,” Jones rested his hand on Kent’s shoulder, “Johnny could hardly sit up when you got the two of them home, he’s doing brilliantly thanks to you and Swoops.” Jones squeezed his shoulder. “We’ve missed you Cap, but it’s clearly been worth it.”

Just at that moment a squeal went up and Kent spun round to see Sammy jumping up and down in her skates with Jamus giving her a high five, so he skated closer to find out what had happened.

“I stopped it Daddy, I stopped the puck with my stick!”

“You clever little monkey!” Kent grinned and nodded towards Jeff and Johnny, “Come on, we need to go tell Papa just how much you’re taking after him.”

Sammy grabbed his hand and skated towards Jeff with the widest grin on her face and Kent couldn’t have been more proud of her as she told her Papa about her block and dragged him back towards the game to show him what she could do while Kent took the opportunity to check on Jack, who was still happily sitting with Davids as if he hadn’t cried almost every moment that he and Jeff were out of sight since he’d been a surprise addition to their family three months ago, and then he turned his attention to Johnny who was skating in small circle a few metres away from the boards.

“Johnny,” Kent approached him slowly not wanting to distract him and risk him falling, “do you want to try and join in the game? We could go and see what Sammy and Papa are doing” Kent waved his hand towards the group up the ice, “or maybe, if you want, we could see if you can score a goal like daddy used to?”

Johnny looked across the distance, at Kent and then back to the game a few times before, finally, he held out his hand and Kent took it gently, winking at him, and they slowly made their way towards the others, Johnny seeming to smile wider with every step closer to the other children they got. 

“Play.” Johnny asked quietly as they reached the group and Jones waved a hand at the kids as if arm movements were communicating something he didn’t need words for and one of the older boys skated over with a small stick while Jamus took up residence in the net, having placed a single puck just a few feet across the blue paint in front of him.

“You gona score the winner Johnny?” Jamus smiled at Johnny and Davids oldest boy, Steven, offered Johnny his hand leading him to the net while Jeff closed up behind Kent, wrapping his arms around his middle and resting his chin on his shoulder, and Sammy skated closer to the net, eager to watch her little brother.

“Try not to cry.” Jeff whispered in Kent’s ear and Kent laughed quietly, 

“I am not the crier in this family and you know it.”

“Well,” Jeff said as he watched Steven position the stick in Johnny’s hand and help him swing it at the puck moving it forward just enough to slide between Jamus’ widely opened legs and skid all the way over the goal line. “I think we’re allowed don’t you?”

The goal was greeted by cheers from every child and adult present and, when Johnny had finished being congratulated he turned towards them, hand in hand with Jamus, and slowly skated over with the biggest, proudest smile they’d ever seen on his face. 

Kent turned his head to kiss Jeff’s gently as tears ran down both their cheeks, “I can’t believe he just did that,” 

Jeff kissed him back and then looked back to Johnny skating towards them and Sammy going back to play with the other children, “He’s doing brilliantly, all three of them are, we’re doing a good job.”

“Yeah,” Kent nodded, “better than most people thought we would especially when we suddenly had Jack as well”

“Maybe some people doubted us,” Jeff tugged Kent’s shoulder and turned him slightly so he could see the children and his old teammates playing and then to where Davids was singing with Jack and talking to a group of other players who Kent wasn’t sure he knew but who clearly knew Davids, “But not this lot, this lot always thought we’d be ok.”

“Yeah,” Kent nodded, “Thanks for this, it’s been great, best birthday ever.”

“I’m glad you said that”, Jeff let go of his shoulder and crouched down to the ice ready to wrap Johnny in his arms when he finally made it close enough, “because if I felt this exhausted and you’d had a rubbish day I might just have to cry again” Jeff laughed and Kent dropped down next to him just as Johnny slid into their arms and they both wrapped themselves around him, tickling his sides and telling him just how perfect and wonderful he was, as he squirmed and laughed and gasped “da, pa op, da” through his giggles.

When he’d stopped laughing Johnny collapsed forward on Jeff’s shoulder with a “tired” and Jeff stood up and lifted him up on to his hip.

“Shall we go and get ourselves ready for dinner son?” 

Johnny nodded tiredly and tried to tuck his head under Jeff’s chin but Jeff was far too experienced with Johnny’s sudden falling asleep abilities to allow that so he set him back down the ice and helped him skate away instead.

“She’s right you know.” Jamus said from close to Kent’s side when he turned his attention away from Jeff and Johnny. “You’ve got some very special babies there.”

Kent felt the tears in his eyes as he turned to look at Jamus, “She was right about you too, I do really like you.” Kent nudged their shoulders together, “Thanks for what you just did.”

“Anytime Parser” Jamus slung an arm around his shoulder, “Bring them to see us more often yeah? This lot,” he gestured towards the players and the children who made up the birthday party, “They miss you, you and Jeff, and now you’ve introduced them to the kids they’ll miss them too.”

“It’s been hard,” Kent started to try and explain, “Sammy and Johnny needed so much from us and then there was the accident,” Jamus nodded solemnly and squeezed his shoulder, “and we had Jack too. I guess it’s just been so busy.”

“We know but maybe don’t make us wait for next year’s birthday party to see you again yeah.”

“Yeah” Kent grinned, “I won’t do that, Jeff suggested I think about working with the kids teams a bit, I think I might be getting under his feet.”

“Maybe,” Jamus laughed and Kent hip checked him lightly and then skated away to end the game and clear up the ice before they were due in the kitchen for birthday tea and home time.

 

It was after seven when they arrived home from the rink. Jack had babbled in his seat while Kent, Jeff, Sammy and Johnny sang along to Johnny’s favourite nursery rhymes in a bid to keep him awake for the ten minute car ride, which worked rather better than usual, allowing Kent to smile his way through getting the children into their pyjamas, washing their faces and brushing their teeth, and settling them all into their beds before kissing each of them gently and thanking them for all his birthday surprises.

 

Stepping back into the living room Kent found Jeff lying along the sofa, two glasses of wine and a tray of fresh fruit on the coffee table in front of him and the television paused on the opening credits of Twister. 

“Are they asleep?” Jeff reached for Kent’s hand and dragged him down onto the sofa in front of him, curling one arm under his head, the other around his waist and kissing his neck.

“They seem to be, I think we wore them out.”

“Good good, finally some adult time,” Jeff snuggled closer into Kent’s back, kissing his neck again, and pressed play on the film.

 

The titles hadn’t even finished rolling when Kent felt the rumble of Jeff’s breathing settle into a soft snore against his spine and he smiled to himself, pulled the coffee table closer so that he could sip his wine, enjoy his favourite fruits from the plate while he relaxed back into the safest arms in the world. 

As birthdays went Kent was pretty sure he’d never had a better one.


End file.
